


I see you

by Lothlorien



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dwarves live in a caste society, Headcanon, M/M, Nori is not impressed, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-20 12:23:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1510301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothlorien/pseuds/Lothlorien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nori was an excellent thief, because he knew one simple fact - most Dwarves never looked past the braids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I see you

Nori was an excellent thief. The fact that he survived decades as one of the most wanted criminals in the Dwarrow mountains proved as much. His secret – the most obvious secret of all, he really didn't know why other Dwarves never thought about it – was that he was a liar. Humans and Elves would tell you that all Dwarves are liars, but Nori knew it was not so. Oh, they would lie about the worth of their merchandise and its origin, but only to other races. Some might try to lie about their status and craft, but they were still essentially honest and they didn't even think about lying with their braids.

Most Dwarves never looked past the braids. They never thought about how revealing, how invasive, the braiding practice was. It was wrapped up in some mystical traditional explanation of course, but Nori was not fooled. It was all about control. A Dwarf might try to rise above their position, might strive to be a master of their craft, might marry up in society, might even lie and try to conceal their _barufel_ braids. But they would never break the final taboo – they never dared take the _barufel_ braids out. Nori did. He went a step further even – when trying to go unseen he would wear different barufel braids, sometimes, as a final resource, he would even put in ones marking him as _izd_.

Nori’s dishonesty served him well. He could walk around his home mountain, the mountain he was banished from decades ago, could walk right past the guards, greet them even, and never be caught, because most Dwarves couldn’t even fathom the idea that anyone would lie about their _barufel_. Most, but not all. There was one guardsman Nori could never fool.

“I like you as _izd_. It saves me from having to be jealous,” Dwalin growled into Nori’s neck, biting down for good measure. Nori smiled. He couldn’t fool them all.

Luckily, he didn’t need to.

**Author's Note:**

> I was attacked by a plot bunny today and had to write this down. It's a thought I had while reading Thorinsmut's Diplomatic Relations. In a lot of fics I read, Dwarves can easily disguise themselves by simply changing their braids. This got me thinking. From that thought another emerged and suddenly I got an AU in which Dwarves live in a caste society. I don't know how it happened either.  
> Dwarrow expressions were lifted from the Neo-Khuzdul dictionary and are of course not entirely correct - oddly enough Tolkien didn't think to add a word for caste in Khuzdul. Anyway, for the purpose of this work caste is _barufel_ (literally [family of all families]) and the lowest caste, the Untouchables, are called _izd_ (literally [them[). That's all from me. Please leave feedback and let me know what you thought.  
>  Also, come visit me on tumblr - you'll find me under the name [fanficisalegitimatefieldofstudy](http://fanficisalegitimatefieldofstudy.tumblr.com/).


End file.
